The Emperor's Cup starts towards the final title acquisition of the season

　The Emperor's Cup, in which the 1st and 2nd rounds have already been played, begins its final tournament for Tokyo today with the 3rd round, with J1 teams joining the competition. In the past three years since promotion to J1, FC Tokyo has been defeated by J2 teams Kofu, Yokohama FC, and Shonan in the early stages of this tournament, so they cannot afford to repeat the same mistakes.

　Facing them is Honda FC, a JFL seed. They have been a formidable opponent, with whom we have had many intense battles during our time in the JFL as Tokyo Gas. They are currently always in the running for the JFL championship and possess the highest level of amateur skills. We cannot underestimate them, but as professionals competing in the top league, Tokyo must demonstrate the difference in strength. We cannot afford to stumble easily on our path to winning the title. Amaral starts on the bench. Jean is injured, so Fujiyama takes his place as center-back, and Yusuke Kondo starts as the forward. The game has started.

開始4分、近藤祐のゴールで早くも先制するが…

　Connect the kickoff ball and Yusuke Kondo attempts to break through the left area, winning a corner kick. In the 4th minute, Miyazawa passes to the space on the right side of the front line. Although it didn't reach Ishikawa, it hit the opponent's defender and crossed the end line. Miyazawa then connects the right corner kick obtained from this to Ishikawa with a short pass, and crosses from the right. The ball goes over Toda's head in the center of the goal, but Yusuke Kondo follows up and pushes it in with his left foot, GOAL! Tokyo has already taken the lead.

　It seemed that they would grasp the rhythm with this opening goal, but Honda also waits for a chance without feeling down. In the 12th minute, DF Abe, who was free in the far post from a right FK, made a shot, but it went over the goal. In the 20th minute, MF Maeda passed a through ball to Furuhashi, who broke through in front of the goal from a quick attack. Fujiyama prevented him from taking a shot by getting close to him. However, right after that, Ishikawa received a back pass in the opponent's territory. Honda's MF Kawashima intercepted it and sent it directly to FW Furuhashi. Furuhashi advanced with a dribble and aimed for the goal from the middle without any pressure. The ball was sucked into the upper right corner of the goal. With this clean shot from Furuhashi, who is also the top scorer in the JFL, they were caught up to the same score.

　Tokyo added crosses from Kaji and Ishikawa in the 26th and 27th minutes. In the 29th minute, Kelly broke through the front line with a heel pass while being surrounded by two defenders on the right side, and Toda connected with a cross, but the goalkeeper caught it. In the 40th minute, they won four consecutive corner kicks, but Yusuke Kondo's shot went over the goal. They couldn't quite get into the rhythm and the score remained 1-1 as they headed into the second half.

Tokyo pushes ahead, Honda continues to chase without giving up

　In the second half, Amaral was substituted for Miura. Tokyo took a gamble by making Miyazawa the lone defensive midfielder. However, as Tokyo increased their tempo, Honda also raised their pace to match. In the 47th minute, Honda was stuck on the right side by Furuhashi and allowed a cross, but Doi barely managed to hold off Nitta, who was free in front of the goal. In the 51st minute, Miyazawa's pass to Kaji was intercepted, and Tokyo launched a quick counterattack. Kawashima cleared the ball from the Tokyo defense and shot. In the 54th minute, Uruno attacked the area from Nitta's post.

　However, in the 55th minute, Yusuke Kondo, who picked up the opponent's DF clearance, sprinted up the left side with speed and crossed the ball after carefully observing the front of the goal. Kelly, who was waiting on the far side, scored a goal with a well-aimed header! They scored an additional goal early in the second half. However, in the 62nd minute, they allowed Honda DF Yoshimura, who came on as a substitute for the right MF, to advance and create a decisive situation where Maeda jumped into the cross. In the 63rd minute, Yusuke Kondo's shot was caught by the opponent's GK.

　In the 65th minute, Wu (aka Chang) was substituted for Toda in the defensive midfield position. Just as they were trying to take advantage of Chang's energy and attacking runs, and push Honda aside, something unexpected happened. In the 68th minute, Amaral cleared Honda's corner kick. Yoshimura picked up the ball and dribbled into the penalty area, where a cross was delivered. Tokyo's defenders cleared the ball, but it fell to DF Mukojima and Maeda, who took consecutive shots. In the midst of the chaos, the ball that had spilled in front of the goal was kicked in by Abe.

　Tokyo, who was caught up again. In the 75th minute, Abe was substituted for Kondo Yu and started creating decisive chances again. In the 80th minute, Abe caught up with a pass from Kaji while competing with the defender and made a negative pass. Ishikawa ran at top speed, but was just a step too late. In the 85th minute, Abe intercepted Honda's quick attack and dribbled with speed for a shot. Then, Chan had a heading shot from the left corner kick. And in the 86th minute, Honda Maeda received a second warning and was sent off. Against the 10-man Honda, in the 87th minute, Amaral connected Chan's long throw-in and Kelly took a decisive shot from the right side of the goal, but the opposing defender who entered the cover cleared it. Immediately after, Kelly's volley shot from the front of the goal was also blocked by the fine save of the opposing goalkeeper Nakamura. Ishikawa's free kick, Kanazawa's shot, and Kelly's shot from Amaral's drop in injury time were unable to break through the concentrated defense of Honda. The match entered extra time with the V-goal system.

The match was not settled in 120 minutes, but we managed to win in a tough penalty shootout.

　Tokyo wanted to take advantage of their numerical advantage, but it was Honda who created the first chance. In the 3rd minute of extra time, Yoshimura picked up the loose ball from a right corner kick and took a decisive shot. However, Tokyo's defense cleared it with all their might. In the 7th minute, Abe received a vertical pass from Miyazawa and took a shot. In the 10th minute, Kanazawa's long shot was caught by the goalkeeper. Honda also tried to counterattack, but Tokyo's defense, centered around Doi, prevented them from taking shots. In the second half, the game mostly took place in Tokyo's half, but they couldn't break the deadlock. In the 3rd minute of extra time, Chan and Amaral launched a quick attack, and Kelly took a shot, but it was saved by the goalkeeper. In the 9th minute, Amaral dropped a early cross from Kaji, and Abe took a shot from a very close distance to the right of the goal, but the goalkeeper made a fine save. In the 10th and 11th minutes, they continued to launch wave-like attacks, but ultimately the match ended without a resolution after 120 minutes, leading to a penalty shootout.

　The first kicker in the PK shootout is Honda. Furuhashi, Mukojima, Abe, Masuda, and Yoshimura all scored, and Tokyo also had Amaral, Kelly, Abe, Kanazawa, and Ishikawa who scored without giving up. However, in sudden death, Doi saved the ball kicked by Tokyo's sixth kicker, GK Nakamura. On the other hand, Tokyo's Miyazawa kicked the ball neatly into the upper right corner of the goal, finally ending the long battle. Despite a close victory, they advanced to the 4th round against Vissel Kobe on December 20th in Marugame, having passed the 3rd round.

【Player Comments】《Yusuke KONDO》"The scene of the opening goal, I felt like I hit the ball after Toda-san competed for it. Kelly's goal assist, I thought someone would be able to finish it, so I sent it far. It was physically tough, but recently I've been able to score even in practice matches and my condition has been good. I want to keep doing my best in the next match."《Doi》"We ended up playing at the opponent's pace, and honestly, I felt really tired. It would have been better if we could attack more easily, for example, through wide play. Honda's determination was stronger, and I thought everyone was good at penalty kicks. After saving one, I felt like I couldn't save any more, so I definitely wanted Miyazawa to score as the next kicker."

[Summary of the press conference by Coach Hara] "The only thing that was good about the match was winning in the penalty shootout. Throughout the season, it was the worst performance. The atmosphere was different from usual. As you can see from the results of other matches, it was difficult to start this tournament. I thought Honda was a great team with good cohesion, and even with one less player and struggling, everyone was doing their best. On the other hand, Tokyo seemed to be trying to play well or easily. I thought we could keep the lead, but when it became a tie, things got strange. Even though we were leading in the second half, we became complacent again. In the past, we fought in the same position as Honda today and won, but losing in the opening match for three consecutive years in J1 makes me feel relieved after the league matches. The players who supported today's game were Kondo, Fujiyama, and Wu, who had not had many opportunities to play before. On the contrary, players like Shigetaka, Ishikawa, Kaji, and Kelly, who returned from the national team, were not in good condition, and there were reasons for their mental state, which led to this kind of game. I felt the difficulty of the Emperor's Cup. However, even if we had lost, I think it would have been a strange development, but I believe we had luck in winning the penalty shootout. I think it's a chance given by God, so we must have a good game next time. Whether they are national team players or foreign players, they should approach the game without hesitation."

[Summary of Coach Honda's Press Conference] "Since the beginning of this year, we have set a goal to defeat J-League teams. It is frustrating that we couldn't break through the wall even though we were close. I want to express my gratitude to the players who gave their all. Even though we were down to 10 players, if we reduced the number of forwards, we would have become too defensive. So, in the first half of extra time, we shifted positions to defend and then switched back to a two-striker formation in the second half of extra time. It's a shame that we couldn't make another substitution. FC Tokyo is a team that I have been fighting against since my active playing days as Tokyo Gas, so I approached the match with respect. Switching from defense to offense is a speed that I have never experienced before, so we focused on sliding horizontally to defend and containing Kelly. We minimized the points and narrowed it down to these two aspects. I didn't think we could defend for 90 minutes by sitting back, so I wanted to bring it to a late attack and win with aggressive soccer. I think we did well with these two points. However, even though we contained them, we couldn't win. Amaral is truly great, and the atmosphere in the stadium changed when it was time to go in the second half. It's frustrating that we couldn't break through the solid defense, including Fujiyama and others. But playing against J-League teams is a valuable experience, and everything becomes a goal. I want to improve my abilities and further raise the level of the team."